TUNNEL HILL, Ga. – Down nine points with under two minutes to play, the Northwest Whitfield Bruins needed an early Christmas miracle. Levi Mosteller was more than willing to make it happen.
The guard, out of the lineup for two weeks while battling a case of the flu, hit three of his seven 3-pointers in the final 98 seconds of regulation to tie rival Dalton, and the Bruins (8-2) completed the rally with an 81-79 overtime win.
“I was really proud of the kids,” Northwest coach Ryan Richards said. “We could have packed it in and gotten beat. I am extremely proud of Levi. He’s missed a lot of time and we’ve been trying to work him back in. When we were down nine I thought we were dead in the water, but the guys put together a nice comeback.”
The first crucial Mosteller trey seemed to revive the Bruins, who had been battered on the boards for three and a half periods. Paxton Pardee hit a pair of free throws and Cyrus Addison added a layup off a Luke Shiflett steal to cut the margin to 65-62 with 1:17 to play.
The lead was four when Mosteller hit another 3-pointer, but the Catamounts appeared to have things in hand again after Nick Hunt’s steal and two free throws made it 69-65 with 25 seconds to play. However, Shiflett hit two free throws and, after Dalton made one of two free throws with 15 seconds left, Richards called time out and set up his red-hot guard for the final shot at a tie. Mosteller, running off an Addison screen at the top of the key, caught Shiflett’s pass and let fly, the ball blistering the nets for a 70-70 tie with two seconds left.